Dreyse
Dreyse refers to Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse (1787–1867), a German gunsmith and entrepreneur who founded an armaments company and pioneered early breech-loading firearms. He is best known for the Dreyse needle gun, also called the Zündnadelgewehr, a breech-loading rifle that used a long firing pin to ignite a primer located in the base of a fixed paper cartridge.
The needle gun’s mechanism centers on a bolt with a highly extended firing pin (the “needle”) that
Developed in the 1830s and 1840s, the needle gun was gradually adopted by the Prussian Army and
The Dreyse firm continued to produce weapons as military technology evolved, with the Dreyse name becoming